The past few years have seen the publication of a large number of articles and not a few books on the subject of relief of intractable pain. New ideas have been put forward on pain mechanisms, new methods of treatment have been reported and improved results c1aimed, and a growing catalogue of complications oftreatment has been recorded. The vast and expanding literature on the subject poses for the reader the dual problems of surveil lance and of assessment. The object of the present book is to provide a critical and constructive review of current writings and ideas on a wide range of aspects of the nature of intractable pain, particularly of present day practice and new ideas on treatment. Each chapter is written by an acknowledged authority and the approach throughout is practical rather than academic. In editing the individual chapters an effort was made to achieve a contemporary approach and to eliminate material which was unduly historicalor retrospective in content. At the same time the individ ual style of the authors was retained as far as possible. For decades chronic pain has been a therapeutic 'no man's land'. For the surgeon pain was an unfortunate complication wh ich not infrequently followed surgery; for the physician it was a distressing symptom in a number of disease syndromes; to the psychiatrist it was one of a number of features in many cases of mental illness."

When the editors asked me to write a foreword to this book I felt very honoured but somewhat embarrassed. I am not a physician but I have spent many years dealing with the organizational problems of the care and assistance of cancer patients who have no hope of recovering. The Floriani Foundation became active in 1977 with a donation from my wife and myself following a sad family experience. The aim of this Foundation is to assist research, studies and diffusion of information in order to better the quality of life of people suffering from debilitating chronic disease, the most important of which is cancer. In the past the Floriani Foundation has sponsored and org.an ized congresses and meetings on the subject of cancer pain relief. The proceedings of those meetings were published and have reached a limited number of people, mainly specialists in this field. It is therefore a pleasure to have been able to help the editors of this book which should reach a much wider audience, particularly among those general practitioners in the developed and developing countries who are directly involved in the treatment of these suffering populations. I hope that the information it contains will be useful in offering support to these suffering patients who still receive very little attention from medical practice."

Die Narkotica * gehoren zu einer speziellen Gruppe unentbehrlicher Pharmaka. In der Bekampfung schwerer Schmerzen sind sie uniiber troffen. Obwohl sie eine Anzahl unerwiinschter Nebenwirkungen her vorrufen und auch zur Sucht fUhren konnen, werden die Narkotica in fast allen Disziplinen der Medizin haufig angewandt. Die zahlreichen Ver anderungen, die an den Molekiilen natiirlich vorkommender Narkotica vorgenommen wurden, fiihrten ebenso wie Tausende der syntheti sierten Narkotica zu Pharmaka von groBer Wirkungsbreite und Wirkungs dauer. Dennoch sind trotz groBter Genialitat und Anstrengung einiger der besten organischen Chemiker alle Versuche, die gewiinschten thera peutischen Effekte der Narkotica von den unerwiinschten Nebenwir kungen zu trennen, bis jetzt gescheitert. Foiglich ist das Erkennen und so weit wie moglich die Verhiitung und Behandlung der Komplikationen, die bei ihrer Anwendung auftreten k6nnen, fUr eine sichere therapeutische Applikation der Narkotica von groBer Bedeutung. Schon vor der Ara der Allgemein-Anaesthesie wurden narkotische Analgetika zur Schmerzausschaltung vor, wahrend und nach chirurgischen Eingriffen verwandt. Seit der Entwicklung der Anaesthesie als Spezialgebiet spielen sie eine bedeutende Rolle in der praanaesthetischen Medikation, der postoperativen Schmerzbekampfung und als integraler Bestandteil vieler anaesthetischer Methoden. Mit der sich stets ausdehnenden Interessensphare und klinischen Tatig keit der Anaesthesiologen eroffnen sich ihnen fUr die Anwendung der Narkotica und ihrer Antagonisten zahlreiche neue Moglichkeiten. In vielen Instituten wird die Anaesthesie-Abteilung mit Problemen konfrontiert, die sich auf die Analgesie in der Geburtshilfe und die Behandlung chronischer Schmerzen beziehen."

For forty years, beginning with the publication of the first modern English translation of the "Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Stillman Drake was the most original and productive scholar of Galileo's "scientific work of our age. During that time, he published sixteen books on Galileo, including translations of almost all the major writings, and Galileo at Work, the most comprehensive study of Galileo's life and works ever written. Drake also published about 130 papers, of which nearly 100 are on Galileo and the rest on related aspects of the history and philosophy of science. The three-volume collection "Essays on Galileo and the History and Philosophy of Science" includes 80 of those papers.

Volume I contains a bibliography of the writings of Stillman Drake, biographical sketches of both Galileo and Drake, and various essays covering the broad range of Galileo's scientific endeavors, including outlines of the humanistic and religious background of his era. Other essays take up textual and bibliographical issues, analysing Galileo's mass of notes, treatises, and numerous fragments, previously collected in folios, manuscripts, and unreliable copies. Drake's wide-ranging essays cover Galileo's place in the philosophy of science, his relation to his forebears and impact on posterity, and his contribution to astronomy. In addition, the essays take up ongoing controversies, such as Galileo's stance on the affinity of science with the corpus of human knowledge.

Volume I of Stillman Drake's "Essays on Galileo and the History and Philosophy of Science" serves as a comprehensive introduction to Galileo's life, science, and writings, and with its forthcoming companion volumes, will indeed be a fitting tribute to the memory of one of Canada's most accomplished scholars.

For forty years, beginning with the publication of the first modern English translation of the "Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems," Stillman Drake was the most original and productive scholar of Galileo's scientific work. During those years, Drake published sixteen books on Galileo, including translations of almost all the major writings, and Galileo at Work, the most comprehensive study of Galileo's life and works ever written. Drake also published about 130 papers, of which nearly 100 are on Galileo and the rest on related aspects of the history and philosophy of science. The three-volume collection "Essays on Galileo and the History and Philosophy of Science" includes 80 of those papers.

In the papers included in Volume III, Drake explores some of the more technical and practical aspects of Galileo's work, focusing on his contributions to scientific instrumentation. The essays then turn to the history of science, demonstrating the breadth of Drake's interests both beyond and relating to the work of Galileo. These interests are again evident in the final papers in the collection, in which Drake writes on the philosophy of science and language.

This collection draws to conclusion Drake's writings on Galileo, capturing the influences and themes in Galileo's life and work.